Teju, a retired Coordinating Director of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), popularly known as “TEJUTAX” is the 12 th and 2 nd female President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN). She was also the 1 st female and the Immediate Past President of the West African Union of Tax Institutes (WAUTI). In May 2016, she was elected to become the first female to head the Association of African Tax Institutes (AATI). In 1975, she obtained a B.A. (hons.) Degree in English from the University of Lagos. On completion of the NYSC Programme in 1976, she joined the then Federal Inland Revenue Department, FIRD, now (FIRS) where she rose to the topmost position of Coordinating/Group Director. Teju is the first female to attain the positions of Director and Coordinating/Group Director before she retired in 2010 as No 3 in the hierarchy of FIRS, where she worked for 34 years. Dr. Teju Somorin, has contributed significantly to the growth of the CITN, and she is the 24 th member to be conferred with the status of a “Fellow of the CITN”. At the CITN, she was the first chairman of Abuja District and Society and the pioneer Dean of Tax Administration Faculty. Teju is a licensed Chartered Tax Practitioner, and a Registered Professional with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.

At FIRS, she took part in major tax reforms, review of tax laws and enforcement activities. She was a two-timed Board Secretary and a two-timed Zonal Coordinator (later changed to Regional Director). At FIRS, she was the first Secretary to the VAT Technical Committee and the first representative of the FIRS at the One Stop Investment Centre (OSIC). She emerged the 3 rd winner in the Essay Tax Competition organised by the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) (1989), London. Prior to that, in 1983, she was awarded MTAX Degree from the University of Paris . She was the Secretary to the Study Group on the Nigerian Tax System (1991), an assignment which was well commended by the then Hon. Minister of Finance. One of the recommendations of her Study Group changed the Federal Inland Revenue Department (FIRD) to FIRS as it is known today, amongst other changes. The recommendation of her Study Group ushered in the VAT to replace Sales tax. Teju has served on numerous technical Committees on taxation. She crowned her academic pursuit with a Doctor of Letters (D.litt.) degree in Nigerian Tax system (2002), awarded in recognition of 135-paged dissertation on the Operation Of Value Added Tax In Nigeria.

A prolific writer, with 127 publications in Taxation. The author of “TEJUTAX, Reference Book on the Nigerian Tax System”, Volumes 1and 2, a product of twelve years of extensive research, the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria which combine the features of a dictionary and an encyclopedia. Teju’s Wednesday column in Businessday is “Tax Matters with TEJUTAX”. Teju has many awards, high-ranking appraisals and commendation letters which stand her out as a great achiever. She served as the National Vice President(1992-1994 and National Treasurer of the University of Lagos Alumni Association(1994-1996). Teju has attended numerous courses, meetings, seminars and Study tours in almost all the states of Nigeria, and also in Algiers, Burkina Faso, Brussels, Cairo, Cape town, Casablanca, Cyprus, Johannesburg, Niamey, Paris, Washington, Tangier and Worthing in UK. A past chairman of FIRS, Ifueko Omoigui Okauru in her foreword to Dr. Somorin’s two giant books, described her as having retired “meritoriously” after a “distinguished public career”. In 2014, she endowed a prize for the best CITN graduating student in Revenue Law . Her recent books published by the Chartered Institute of Taxation are:  Historical Highlights of the Nigerian Tax System,  Evolution of Nigerian Tax Laws – An Overview; and  Taxes around the Globe: A Concise Review of Different Tax Types; and  Tax Reforms in Nigeria since 1978.

The Association of All African Students Union (AASU) conferred on her the Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award as “Africa’s Most Outstanding Tax Administrator” on February 27, 2016. In 2016, Babcock University, Ilishan, Ogun State engaged her as Associate Professor and a Part Time Lecturer in Taxation for its PhD Programme in Taxation and Fiscal Policy. Similarly, in January 2017, the Igbinedion University, Okada engaged her as a Part-Time Lecturer in Postgraduate Diploma and Masters Programme.

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